you're searching what your friends have posted on facebook. all of the privacy settings remain in tact. so it is really only as good as what your friends have posted or what you have posted. but overall, that could change. i think that the biggest threat is to the local review sites like yelp, for instance, you might be more inclined to trust what your friends say as opposed to what other people are saying, people you don't know. >> dan, thank you. looks cool, thanks. white house has changed the rules now about official online petitions. starting today, a petition sent to the website, we the people, it has got to have 100,000 signatures in the span of 30 days to get an official response from the obama administration. the previous requirement for an official response was just 25,000. the white house says the change is needed after the site suddenly got very popular, flooded with sometimes not so serious petitions. one of them demanded the u.s. build a death star. another called on the forced

deportation of our cnn host piers morgan. that's it for me now. brooke baldwin continues on "cnn newsroom." as reaction pours in on the president's gun proposal, we aren't going to tell you what is illegal. we will show you what's illegal. you'll hear it straight from a gun dealer. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. they lived a middle class life, going to work, playing tennis. but behind closed doors they were sleeper spies, delivering secrets for cash. plus, the jet of the future grounded. why dreamliners' new problem leads to a drastic move. and -- >> just devastating. i think the whole town is probably just mortified about it. >> a dad and his two young sons go hiking. but never come home. you'll hear what happened in their last 24 hours.

hello, i'm brooke baldwin. good to be with you. it is a fight he shied away from in his first term of office. as of this afternoon, gun control is back near the top of president barack obama's agenda. 33 days since the shocking carnage at sandy hook elementary school. the president is calling the nation to action. he says protecting america's children should not be divisive. >> i'm putting forward a specific set of proposals, based on the work of joe's task force. and in the days ahead, i intend to use whatever weight this office holds to make them a reality. >> let me briefly just tick through for you what the president has in mind. so, first of all, he signed 23 executive actions, those are the steps he can take on his own, without the approval of congress. stand by for specifics on that. because, of course, we're going to run through those. there are bigger plans here.

these plans would have to involve congress. president said today he will ask for universal background checks to govern gun purchases. president also says he wants a law to limit ammunition magazines to a maximum of ten rounds. and perhaps the most controversial here, the president is asking for a nationwide ban on military style rifles known as assault weapons. as an example of the resistance the president is certainly bound to face here, today the national rifle association released this video ad that drags the president's own daughters into the gun debate here. the president said today, he cannot fight this one alone. >> if parents and teachers, police officers and pastors, if hunters and sports men, if responsible gun owners, if americans of every background stand up and say enough, we suffered too much pain, and care

too much about our children to allow this to continue, then change will come. >> but what about the constitution? what about the second amendment? a lot of folks i know are asking and the president had an answer for that. >> as americans we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights to no man or government can take away from us. but we also have long recognized as our founders recognized that with rights come responsibilities. along with our freedom to live our lives as we will comes an obligation to allow others to do the same. >> with me now from washington is our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. jessica, 23 executive orders. let's just begin there. what's in those? >> reporter: hi, brooke. well, i won't go through all of them, but broadly speaking a great number of them have to do with improving the background

checks system. for example, making it easier for us to report when somebody has a mental health problem. and put that into the background checks system. that doesn't always happen. also, even funds to improve the process that allows states to share that kind of background check information with other states. that's one measure. another would be crackdown on gun crimes, specifically this means better tracking of stolen crimes and more prosecution of people who -- sorry, better tracking of stolen guns and more prosecution of people who buy stolen guns. sometimes law enforcement officials find that there is a stolen gun and don't trace the person or prosecute the person who is in possession of it. and then more funds made available for school safety and mental health concerns, brooke. >> that's part of it. it is a broad look at those 23 executive orders. then you have much bigger proposals, right, he has to pass to congress in order to achieve.

what precisely is he asking congress to do? >> we have talked about the big picture issues. pressing assault weapons ban, but they have sort of -- i have to say in the meetings here downplayed that according to a lot of the people i talked to, been in the meetings. the big focus is on getting new legislation that would limit high capacity magazines, those that have ten bullets or more, and then improving, changing the background checks system by law so that anybody who buys a gun has to go through it, through that background check, even to say if i privately sell you a gun, that's not currently the law that i would have to do a background check on you. also, new laws that would ban armor piercing bullets, even more stringently than they're currently limited and putting more cops on the beat, for example. those are the things that they'll try to push through congress. >> and, finally, let's just talk about the optics of today, right? you see the vice president, you see the president. they're flanked by a number of children. who are these children? >> reporter: you know, i spoke to some of these kids and i have

to say they were unbelievably impressive. they are kids who by their own account after the sandy hook shooting didn't know what to do, felt so upset and emotional about it. the two i spoke to said they turned to their parents and said i want to write the president a letter. and each of them separately wrote him saying they want him to change the gun laws. now, obviously, you know, they want him to crack down on making sure that bad people as one of them put it to me don't get guns. now, obviously that's also has a political optical purpose for the white house, which is using the nation's children to sell this legislative effort, you know the nra also used the president's kids in an ad, so a lot of kids being used in this battle, brooke. >> jessica yellin at the white house. i want to continue this discussion. i want to go to las vegas for my next guest. gun shop owner jay wallace of

outdoor adventures in smyrna, georgia. welcome to you. >> thank you, brooke. >> our white house correspondent was talking about something the president is proposing, this universal background checks. this really seems to be, if i may, just one of the biggies coming out of the white house. my question to you is universal background checks, what exactly would that entail? is it practical? >> well, you know, the thing is that we have to make sure that people understand they have an individual responsibility of when they're selling a firearm, that they should sell it to someone that is not mentally ill or incompetent or a felon or any of those things and that's their individual responsibility not to do that. if there are some ways where we can make it better, to where they could have a better understanding of how to do that, and enforce that, i'm not in favor of taking away individual rights for those who want to sell firearms from one individual to another. >> but it sounds like maybe you understand. we know, you know the story, some of these guns have fallen into the hands of people with a

nefarious purposes, some mentally ill. if that is imposed upon you, would you be accepting of that? >> you're saying would it be -- >> if it were to go through -- >> if a business -- >> yes, sir. >> if it were to go through, and it did go through congress, of course we would be acceptable to it. we wouldn't defy the law. i think the president is doing the right thing by going to congress and getting their advice and, you know, working with them. i think it is the right thing to do. >> what about this? if you are a law abiding citizen, and you would never use a gun for violent means, but, you know, you register to get a driver's license, why are some people so against just registering guns? >> well, i think that they look at what has happened to other countries. you look at australia, that's the way that they started. you look in actually in canada, and it is just a slippery slope

to where, you know, guns are set up to be confiscated. we realize that. we don't want to be like europe. we want to be like america. one of the things that makes america different is freedom, individual freedom, individual responsibility. we want to keep that. >> but, and i understand that, and i understand absolutely second amendment right to bear arms. but, again, if you have to have a license to drive, for example, why not if you don't have ill means in having a gun, why not just register a gun, period? >> well, yeah, but see the thing is it is not the ill means of the individual that has the license to drive a car. it is the ill means of a government that could pass laws and make things more restrictive. so we see that as a slippery slope. we're not against things that make a difference. we're not against making it harder for mentally ill individuals to get their hands on firearms. we're not against that.

we're not against making the instant background check more efficient and having more information. we're not against that. but as far as individual rights of people that want to sell firearms back and forth, that's the way we are. and that's part of our country, you know? we have to look back. if you want to examine this, you have to look back in the '50s and look at the difference of what has happened here. guns were more available in the '50s and '60s than they are now. we didn't have these problems. so, for instance, the 30-round magazines, those were around back in the '50s and '60s. >> what changed, jay wallace, do you think? >> i think the main thing that has changed in this country is that, you know, individuals that are willing to die and kill someone else, they lost the fear of god. they're fixing to meet their maker and in their face when they kill themselves and kill others. >> don't you understand, here's the president trying to, what was he said, 900 people have been killed since newtown

happened. so he, it sounds like, is trying to prevent these people whom you're describing from getting their hands on weapons, and if you have to have universal background checks, and if you have to, you know, maximize these magazines, ban these military style assault weapons, you know, and that might frustrate some people, that's what you have to do. do you understand that? >> i do understand it. but you have to understand this, do you want to do something that makes you feel good or do you want to do something that does some good? these things he's wanting to do really are not going to have an effect. when you look at the assault type firearms and they are used in less than 2% in the shootings in the country, is that what you want to say, we want to go after something that is less than 2%. it doesn't make good sense. >> i appreciate this conversation. i appreciate your candor. is there any one thing the president said that you really, really stand behind, you agree? >> well, i do agree that if we could make the instant background check better. i do agree with that. if he can make it where those that are mentally ill will show

up and it will restrict them from buying a firearm, i'm totally behind him. i do agree with the president by going through congress. i do not agree with him taking it on his own. i think he should look at everything. i think, you know, when he was talking about doing a study with the cdc, i think he should look at the study that was done in 2002 where they found there was no evidence that furthering laws, restrictions on firearms, that it made a difference any at all. he needs to look at that study and if he thinks something different between 2002 and now, he needs it look at that. >> jay wallace, thank you. i know you took on bloomberg, some years ago, and the whole thing settled, correct? >> that is correct. we were able to finish that up and it worked out very well. >> all right, jay wallace, thank you. >> thank you, brooke. >> big question here, what, if anything, could pass congress? let me go to capitol hill for that one. to our senior congressional correspondent dana bash. you are reporting, all this talk

about the background checks, interesting what my last guest was saying, you know, you're saying it could pass, but it has an uphill climb. >> reporter: that's right. i think talking to sources here on capitol hill, particularly senate democratic leadership sources and that's really what counts right now is that is the most like through pass. you heard from jay wallace, that was a great example of why. he's somebody who clearly is very much for gun rights, against most gun control, but that is the one thing he said maybe we could find common ground on. that is why you heard the president list that first when it comes to legislative option he wants to push in congress and also why democratic sources say that is probably, even though we're going to see a high profile role out of the assault weapons ban, by dianne feinstein next weekend, other measures that the president talked about, that is the most likely to get through. however, and here is the but, it is an important but, even that is going to be difficult, because we are talking about a lot of concern, political concern among the president's

fellow democrats. never mind republicans, fellow democrats in the senate from those red states where gun rights are a way of life, that will be reluctant to do anything, unless they are sure -- first of all, reluctant to do anything at all. in the next step, if they do agree to do something to sign on to something, over something they want to be assured that it will actually pass. 60 votes needed in the senate, pass the house and get to the president's desk. they don't want to walk the political plank for no reason. >> from capitol hill, dana bash, thank you. i need to pull away. breaking news now on cnn, we're getting word of a terrorist attack in which americans are being held hostage. a terrorist attack in which americans are being held hostage here. the state department confirming it with cnn. we're all over it. that's next. i'm up next, but now i'm singing the heartburn blues. hold on, prilosec isn't for fast relief. cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. ♪ oh what a relief it is!

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breaking news now on cnn. americans taken hostage in what the u.s. state department is calling a terrorist attack. it is happening here in algeria, in northern africa. this facility, this is a foreign operated gas field. algerian state media report these militants who have links to al qaeda are holding at least 40 people hostage. as many as seven of them could be americans here. state department spokeswoman victoria nuland condemning this attack, but being cautious when it comes to specifics. >> the best information that we have at this time is that u.s. citizens are among the hostages. i hope you will understand that in order to protect their safety, i'm not going to get

into numbers. i'm not going to get into names. i'm not going to get into any further details. as we continue to work on this issue with the algerian authorities, and also with their employers. >> now, some reports indicate that this could be an act of retribution by islamists for the french armed intervention in mali. chris lawrence, let me go to you at the pentagon and tell me as we're talking, 40 hostages, as many as 7 americans, what do you know? what is the military telling you? >> reporter: well, a defense official i just spoke with a few minutes ago said this is clearly an act of terrorism and that was echoedamplified by leon panetta, he's meeting with nato allies. and he said clearly this was a terrorist act, this kidnapping including some american hostages. right now, from sources that we are speaking with, africa command is taking the lead on this from the military side.

but they are mostly conferring with the state department and the fbi as the state department sifts through the information and works with the algerians to get the best available information on what is going on the ground. there are some military assets that are somewhat close. there are marine, fleet anti-terrorism teams in italy. there is also air force surveillance aircraft that could be available out of aviano, also in italy. there are some military assets in the area. but the defense official i spoke with said right now the best thing is to get all the information they can about what is going on, on the ground. in other words, he said how many bad guys are there, what is the specific layout of this bp facility? >> why this facility? do we know? >> reporter: what did you say? >> why this bp facility, this foreign operated gas field? do we have any idea why there? >> reporter: we don't know why that was targeted. i've met a lot of american workers, british workers, who go

to work in saudi arabia, algeria, they work for oil companies overseas and basically live in those countries while they're working there for a year or two years. >> okay. okay. chris lawrence, we'll put you back in front of the camera as soon as you learn any more about this hostage situation, algeria, northern africa, 40 hostages, possibly as many as seven americans. thank you from the pentagon. quick break.

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jpmorgan also reporting higher earnings. that's the good news. the bad news here, the maker of the troubled jetliner dragging the stock market down just a bit. we have been talking about that. alison kosik, let me go to you. let's begin here with jpmorgan. higher earnings, and a pay cut for the ceo. pay cut. how much are we talking? >> reporter: pay cut for jamie dimon. huge pay cut, 12 million bucks. he's paying the price for last spring's trade gone bad in london, brooke. these were trades making big bets on complex derivatives. they cost the company more than $6 billion, so the bank is cutting his total salary, which includes his bonus, to half. which means he'll get paid $11.5 million for 2012. i know it is not chump change. he made $23 million in 2011. as for the company, jpmorgan made a profit of $5.7 billion in the last three months of 2012. that's up more than 50% from a year ago. it was helped by the recovery and the housing market. brooke? >> what about goldman?

how did they come back? >> reporter: goldman had a strong finish. goldman also benefitted from the housing recovery and credit conditions that are getting better. goldman booked a profit of almost $3 billion. that's actually triple from a year ago. and despite what ceo lloyd blank field called challenging conditions for the rest of the year. here is what is interesting in the earnings report, there is really this shift going on at goldman from making money on trading and investment management to getting most of its growth from lending money. that clearly paid off for 2012 with stronger results. >> i have to ask about boeing, yet another glitch, this emergency landing for this -- what is supposed to be this revolutionary jet, right? boeing shares dropped a bit today. >> reporter: they are dropping more than just a bit. dropping almost 4%. look, this dreamliner, brooke, it can't catch a break, can it? it had problems last night, an emergency landing in japan. what it has done is prompted all nippon airways and japan airways to ground their dreamliner

fleets. the plane is meant to be boeing's marquis jet. it is the plane of the future. look at all the headaches that it is causing. though aviation experts say they think the long-term fallout will be limited, some say it is normal to run into these types of issues, others say this is beyond what is known as teething issues for new jets. but as for airlines that have dreamliners in service here in the u.s., they are just united airlines does, and united told cnn today that they inspected all of their 787 aircraft, and that they are flying as scheduled. brooke? >> we'll talk more about this dreamliner. alison kosik, thank you. how about this story, this teenage mother, she gives up her baby for adoption, for 36 years, had no clue what happened to her until now. >> oh, my goodness. >> their emotional reunion and how they got here is next. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news

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you have heard how social media and the internet revolutionized the adoption experience and reunited many adopted children finding their birth parents and, of course, vice versa. how often do you actually get to see this first time face to face between birth parent and child? well, our chicago affiliate wbbm was there for this family reunion, more than 30 years in the making. i promise, you won't be turning away from this. mike parker has the story. >> reporter: jenny hadly waited for the south shore train carrying her long lost child. she was searching adoptee reunion websites for years.

>> i started to lose faith, thinking maybe, you know, maybe she doesn't want to be found. >> reporter: but it turns out her daughter had been searching for her too. they found each other online, just after christmas. and they have been exchanging phone calls, e-mails, and photos every since. >> oh, my goodness. >> reporter: the train pulled in and life suddenly changed for jenny hadly and her daughter elaine. >> amazing. just amazing. >> it only took me 36 years. >> reporter: two women who battled an emptiness in their hearts for so long reunited. those two hearts are full again. >> it is unbelievable. i'm the luckiest person alive today. it's -- i always -- i'm incredibly fortunate. my parents told me from day one how much they wanted me and how great my mom was. >> reporter: elaine brought a gift for her mom, from virginia, where she lives now. >> oh, my goodness. >> that's a picture of each of us at about the same age.

>> what do you think about that? >> i'm about to start crying. >> reporter: in the days ahead there will no doubt be a lot of tears. >> this is a dream come true. yeah. billion dollar lottery doesn't feel this good. >> reporter: it is hard to tell this mom and her daughter apart. >> wbbm reports jenny hadly's next trip to virginia will be to meet her daughter's husband. he's now serving in afghanistan. bottom of the hour here on cnn. the president today setting the table for the next gun control debate. what did he do? he outlined his plans to curb gun violence in america, all in the wake of 26 dead in that mass killing at that elementary school in newtown, connecticut. here he is, with that pen in his left hand, signing 23 executive orders to strengthen background checks. to expand school security, to better educate mental health professionals, and this is what he's asking congress to do. look at this with me.

limit gun magazines to ten rounds. ban military assault style weapons, establish background checks, and dedicate more money to help treat mental illness and enhance school security. look at the picture here. the picture, the children, flanked by children who wrote to him, wrote the president letters about gun control. their own little concerns and the families of newtown's victims. the president never said the nra's name, but it was apparent he was speaking to and about its members here. >> this will not happen unless the american people demand it. if parents and teachers, police officers and pastors, if hunters and sportsmen, if responsible gun owners, if americans of every background stand up and say, enough, we suffered too

much pain, and care too much about our children to allow this to continue, then change will come. >> let me go to michael crowley, the deputy washington bureau chief of "time" magazine. welcome back. >> thank you. >> "time" released its special report. here is the cover. the gunfighters, you see vice president biden in the center, former congresswoman gabrielle giffords and new york mayor michael bloomberg right there front and center. we were talking, the last time you and i spoke was actually july, about this cover, "how guns won," about the power of the nra on limiting gun control laws after that aurora shooting. here we are in january of 2013, so much has changed since then. obviously michael the big change sandy hook. but another change in reading this piece too as well is money and battling back against the nra. explain. >> yeah. well, i think that really interesting flashback, i had

forgotten about the last cover when we spoke, but what has changed, 20 children, i think, and just a sense that we have crossed a line and this was just one -- one tragedy too much. and now there really has been i think a movement that was cat lo licatalized by sandy hook. and you have the mayor who is ready to invest in this issue and it is not just in spend money to advocate, and it is not just him. i think there are a lot more people who are wanting to agitate, wanting to change public opinion and that is the key here. i think the white house understands that, you know, if you were to have a vote tomorrow on these measures, they probably wouldn't pass. i think their only hope is to increase pressure on congress, kind of bottom up, not entirely top down. so the executive order by the president are fairly mild. he has this package, i think at the moment there is not a lot of signed republican leaders going to move on them. what you're going to see is an effort by the white house to rally public opinion and people

like michael bloomberg to rally public opinion around the country. >> public opinion is huge and the president himself saying, looking down at my notes, the only way we can change is if american people demand it. he goes through this group of people with whom the vice president met. and wasn't to ask ye have to ta nra. the nra ad just came out, pretty controversial. i want to point out to our viewers, this ad is only running on the sportsmen cable network, about a third of the homes in the u.s. here is a clip. >> are the president's kids more important than yours? then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids -- >> here is my question to you. you hear this voice talking about armed security in schools. interesting the nra is choosing to focus on that sliver of this whole argument versus taking on, you know, something much broader, that the president mentioned today. ie an assault weapons ban. you surprised by that? >> you know, i was initially

surprised by that. what i can tell you is that, you know, time and cnn will have polling out later this afternoon, and one thing people might find is that arming guards in schools is more popular than i think a lot of people -- a lot of people i know who first reacted to that nra press conference a few weeks ago really appreciated. it is actually not an unpopular idea and i think the nra may have found an issue here that they can kind of focus on where people say the nra is making sense to me, i know a lot of people may disagree with it. i was surprised how much support there is for it. you know, bringing the president's children into it, however, i just don't get that. it seems totally counterproductive, seems to be kind of crossing a line of accepted discourse. and it almost seems like they are just defiantly trying to stick the president in the eye here and maybe also frankly trying to get some free media attention. >> i do want to read the statement, this is from the white house press secretary, jay carney, on this. most americans agree that a president's children should not be used as pawns in a political fight. but to go so far as to make the

safety of the president's children the subject of an attack ad is repugnant and cowardly, end quote, coming from the white house. michael crowley "time" magazine, michael, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. a couple on trial accused of being sleeper spies in providing top secret information for decades. wait until you hear, you know we have the details of how they blended in. back after this. power down your little word game. i think your friends will understand. oh no, it's actually my geico app...see? ...i just uh paid my bill. did you really? from the plane? yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24/7. sounds a little too good to be true sir. i'll believe that when pigs fly. ok, did she seriously just say that? geico. just click away with our free mobile app.

what a story this is. dead letter drops, buying and selling classified documents, secret orders by transmitter radio from moscow. all of this happening in this sleepy german village, just north of frankfurt. here in the town of marburg. a couple, in their 40s, set up a pretty comfortable life, middle class existence. but for more than 20 years this couple has been living a life straight out of a cold war novel. they're alleged sleeper spies now on trial for their crimes. their life in this little german village all a cover-up. their real jobs, working for the russian secret service. their names, fake. their austrian passports, fake. fred pleitgen has been following this story for us. we know they had a daughter. what else do we know about them? what are they accused of?

>> reporter: well, everything else pretty much in their life is fake as well. even the daughter apparently who has grown up now, brooke, didn't even know about this secret life that they were living. right now they're on trial here in germany for espionage and taking on a fake identity as well. and the accusations are pretty severe. what they did apparently for 20 years, they tried to get secret and top secret information about nato and the european union here within germany, but in the netherlands as well. some of the documents they apparently got, hundreds and thousands of documents that they got, some of them secret, some of them also pertaining to nato strategy in afghanistan. so potentially stuff that could jeopardize american troops in afghanistan, brooke. >> fret pleitgen, how did they even have access to the secret documents in first place? >> reporter: yeah. that is also really something out of a spy novel. apparently what they were doing is transmitting, sending messages to moscow, asking for orders as well. one of the things they did is they recruited an employee of the foreign ministry of holland,

of the netherlands, and they got those documents or large part of them from him. he provided them with documents. he got about $96,000 for doing that over the course of several year years. if you recall, during this time, holland was actually the lead nation in south afghanistan, in the kandahar region. they would have been a wealth of documents about that as well. he gave them those four very long time, he's on trial in the netherlands as well, brooke. >> so the mole here, the mole who tipped off authorities, this is the same one who revealed the real identity of anna chapman, remember her, the bombshell red head here, the beautiful young russian woman, she, remember, was living in new york city, she was arrested in 2010, part of that whole russian spy ring. so why, fred? why is this type of thing still going on post cold war? >> reporter: well, that's a very good question. it seems as though even after

the cold war, russians are interested in information not only of western europe, but especially about america as well. you know, all these nations, the germans, the americans, other european nations, are so closely intertwined that you will get secret information if you spy on european countries about america. at the same time, of course, if you recall, all of this also had some very big disagreements of -- between the u.s. and russia about missile defense here that is supposed to be set up in europe. so there are a lot of things where the russians are still very wary of the u.s. and also, of course, just trying to get information about what is going on. it is something that is very, very bizarre and strange to think that these countries that are now allies would still be doing this. >> crazy. fred pleitgen, thank you for staying up for us, i'm sure a slightly cold berlin this evening. fred, thank you. police in new york, they are asking pharmacies to stock their shelves with pill bottles fitted with gps tracking chips. we'll tell you why and how this is supposed to work coming up.

new york city combatting just about everything these days, and limited the amount of soda you can drink, just put a new huge gun control law in place, and now it is trying to put a gps in prescription painkiller bottles to combat the surge of pharmacy robberies. commissioner ray kelly of nypd saying oxycontin armed thefts

are booming and wants to stop it. he's announced this plan to put bait bottles, that's what he's calling them, on store shelves, fake painkillers equipped with an invisible gps device. should a robber steal it, like this person, suspected of stealing from a pharmacy, the gps apparently is going to go off, shows the person's location, tracks the person, hopefully leads police to bigger stashes across the city and probably elsewhere. hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks is here. how exactly does this work? >> well, brooke, what it is going to be, because you've got robberies and burglaries, breaking into pharmacies after hours, going in, stealing these things. >> killing people. >> killing people. long island and last april in east harlem, off duty cop, pumping gas, confronted two robbers, shot and killed one of them after holding up a pharmacy for pain killers. you're going to have basically your pill bottle sitting on the little stand, you take that pill bottle off, and it starts

emitting a signal all right then and there. these are going to be sealed. let's say you pick it up and shake it, it is going to sound like there is pills inside that particular bottle. >> fake pills. >> fake pills. you have your gps tracking device inside of that. they have been using this technology for quite some time with banks, because you will have sometimes a bottle of money, you'll have that if a bank is robbed, they'll pull those out, they give you the bait money if you will. >> follow the money. follow the money. >> follow the signal. they had a bank robbery today in houston where they used the same technology to track the car. >> is this for potential pharmacists with ill means, or is this for people who would come in to try to steal the bottles, what kind of pills are we talking? >> this was developed by -- it was developed by purdue pharma, which is the maker of oxycontin. so they are the ones behind this. saying, hey, we want to help protect, number one, our brand, and secondly, because they come in, there are so many robberies,

so many burglaries happening now just for these particular painkillers, we want to get this technology to try to track these people down, and maybe be a preventive measure because if you know what you're taking could have a gps device in it, and you could get locked up, maybe that would discourage somebody. but they're hoping that all 1800 pharmacies in the city of new york kind of get on the bandwagon with this program. it already has gone on in suffolk county, just not outside the city. >> you don't think the potential criminals would be hip to the gps devices could be able to determine which pill bottles had gps devices and could go around it. >> are you going to take the time to take the tape off and the top off and the foil and the cotton, no. you want to get in, you want to get out, and hopefully they'll get out with one of these decoy bottles. >> i'm curious, big picture, explain what typically happens if you have a successful robbery say in a pharmacy and grab a bunch of oxycontin. where do the pills typically

walk? >> you can take them, you might be someone who is getting paid by someone who is taking these and distributing them to other places around the state, outside the state. so a lot of times you'll say, hey, i'll give you x amount, you can have so many pills so much money, want you to hit this particular one or they'll put in an order. i want 200 of a particular painkiller, go out and get them and here is what i'll pay you. these what these perps are doing. >> ray kelly says no more, no more. >> i don't blame him. absolutely. >> mike brooks, thank you. appreciate it. a look here at what is to come over the president's next four years, including why the middle east could be his biggest challenge. but first, a quick look at the markets as the dow is up, 25 points, at 13,509. forgive me, down. that's minus. bleary eyes here. [ indistinct shouting ]

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as the president prepares to take the oath of office for the second time, the list of pressing issues he must address continues to grow. a global economic slowdown threatens the recovery right here in the u.s., while iran's nuclear program and a revolution in syria demand urgent attention. jill dougherty has more on what the president is facing in the middle east.

>> reporter: a region in turmoil. the challenge, coping with revolutionary change in the middle east. >> i barack hussein obama do solemnly swear -- >> reporter: as president barack obama is sworn in for a second term, the clock is ticking on iran. >> i've said that when it comes to preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, i will take no options off the table. and i mean what i say. >> reporter: among the potential options, an israeli air strike, iron clad sanctions, seer serious diplomacy, covert action. the president's choice for defense secretary former senator chuck hagel has raised red flags over military action. and questioned whether unilateral sanctions really work. now he says he supports both options. the obama administration and its diplomatic partners think there is still time for a deal with iran, but, can president obama actually find terms for a

compromise that he can sell both to the ayatollah in iran and congress in washington? and the chances of doing that are pretty tough. >> reporter: in syria, the death toll is 60,000 and counting. president obama so far says no u.s. boots on the ground, and no u.s. arms for the syrian opposition. his choice for secretary of state senator john kerry has gone further. >> we should weigh the risks and benefits of establishing safe zones near syria's border areas. >> reporter: if syria's president bashar al assad unleashes his chemical weapons, a real scare that emerged late last year, mr. obama says he will retaliate. >> the world is watching. the use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. >> reporter: countries that lived through the arab spring

two years ago are morphing into a zone of instability. barack obama put his administration on the line for egypt's president mohamed morsi, a member of the muslim brotherhood. but egypt's economy is on the ropes. across the region, political storm clouds ar gathering as iran, israel and eight arab countries hold crucial elections this year. >> in every one of them, a new form of right, far, far right is emerging as to change the balance of power. >> reporter: in his first term, barack obama said he was making the middle east peace process a priority, but middle east expert aaron david miller says don't get your hopes up for this term. >> the fact is if you -- if the administration tried to put mahmoud abbas and benjamin netanyahu down together, right now, or in february, at the negotiating table, the gaps between them are so large that they simply cannot be bridged and the u.s., yet again, will be

revealed as an emperor without clothes. >> and when we come back, we'll talk to chris lawrence from the pentagon, get new information here about this hostage situation in algeria. this is this north african country where we're now hearing, confirmed by the state department, 40 hostages, being called an act of terror by leon panetta, the defense secretary. as many as seven of them could be americans. more breaking news next. unteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief. your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes.

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developing stories in a flash. roll it. in syria, two blasts ripped through one of syria's biggest universities, killing more than 80 people. you heard the blast, all these bombs aimed at students of the university of aleppo, who were taking exams at the time. also today, a triple car bombing, 22 people dead in syria's idlib province. one of the bombs targeted a car outside a government security office there. at least 142 people killed today across syria. and remember this one? from south carolina. governor mark sanford. >> the bottom line is this, i have been unfaithful to my wife, i developed -- >> that was mark sanford, admitting to an affair with a woman from argentina that cost him his marriage and derailed his political career. well, now, sanford, a republican, is announcing he

will try to make a political comeback. he's running for the congressional seat he held in the late '90s before becoming a two-term governor. the argentine woman is now his fiancee. breaking news here at the top of the hour on cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. americans taken hostage in what the u.s. here -- u.s. state department is calling a terrorist attack. happening right here, you see the map, we're talking algeria, northern african nation. as far as where specifically this is happening, apparently at a bp facility. algerian state media report the militants who have links with al qaeda are holding at least 40 people hostage, as many as seven americans could be among them. state department spokeswoman victoria newland condemned the attack but is being extremely cautious when it comes to specifics. >> the best information that we have at this time is that u.s.

citizens are among the hostages. i hope you will understand that in order to protect their safety, i'm not going to get into numbers, i'm not going to get into names, i'm not going to get into any further details as we continue to work on this issue with the algerian authorities and also with their employers. >> chris lawrence, coming to you at the pentagon. you've been working this for us. what details do you have as far as what happened there? >> reporter: well, first off, brooke, defense secretary leon panetta has called this a clear act of terror. and our sources here at the pentagon and other defense officials around the world are saying the u.s. does have some assets to help deal with this situation. specifically u.s. special forces here on the east coast are only about a four hour window to be wheels up. there are also marines who can deal with certain crisis situations like this, based in both italy and in spain. and perhaps most importantly,

post benghazi, they established what is called a commanders in extremist force for the u.s. africa command. this is a small lethal force designed primarily for very quick response, hostage taking situations like this. they are at an undisclosed location but conceivably would be available. right now, the defense officials i've been speaking with are saying there is still a lot of questions to be answered about this situation, specifically how many bad guys are you talking about, what is the terrain like around that area, what is the layout of the bp facility? maybe most importantly, how easy or difficult would that facility be to defend? >> i'm wondering what the tactical situation would be. you've been to this part of the world in terms of terrain as you point out. are they yet planning on going in and rescuing some of these hostages? >> reporter: right now, the lead is being taken by the state department. they are in contact with the

algerians. i can tell you, from sources here in the pentagon, they say that the algerian military does have a good deal of experience. they have been battling these home grown terrorists and some al qaeda forces for five to ten years now. and the commander of u.s. africa command has been to algeria about a half dozen times to work with the algerian forces there. so there is that relationship between the u.s. military and the algerians that they could draw on, you know, as we get more information about what is going on there on the ground. >> one more question for you. let me just talk, michael, will you put the map back up with the northern part of africa so we can talk geography. you can see mali and algeria and it is significant because, chris, we talked about this yesterday, this might be an attack of retribution by islamists. here you have mali just south of algeria. we talked about the french armed intervention in mali and the u.s. to a degree as well.

might that be part of a motive here? what are you hearing? >> reporter: it is possible. there are some websites that are reporting from a terrorist group that they are claiming responsibility for taking these hostages in response to the algerians allowing french jets to use their air space to fly over and conduct some of those attacks on insurgents in mali. so all of this may tie together. it's still too early to know. sometimes with these initial claims, you've really got to take some time and sift through them because there can be outlandish claims or claims by groups that turn out not to be true. but, yes, there is a group out there claiming responsibility and tying it to the algerians allowing the french to use their air space to go after insurgents in mali. >> okay. chris lawrence, thank you very much on that. we'll come back to you if need be here. it is the fight he shied away from in his first term in office. gun control. but as of this afternoon, it is

near the top of barack obama's agenda. 33 days since the shocking carnage at sandy hook elementary school, the president is calling the nation to action, saying protecting our children should not be divisive. >> so i'm putting forward a specific set of proposals base ed on the work of joe's task force. and in the days ahead i intend to use whatever weight this office holds to make them a reality. >> let me just briefly tick through what the president has in mind as we were listening to him this morning. so, first of all, he is signing 23 executive actions. these are the steps he can take onneed the approval of congress here. we have to talk about congress and what he has to get through there. the president said today he will be asking for a law establishing universal background checks to govern gun purchases. that was the first one he mentioned. also, wants a law to limit

ammunition magazines to a maximum of ten rounds. perhaps the most controversial here, he wants a nationwide ban on military-style rifles known as assault weapons. as just one example here of the fight that lies before him, today the national rifle association, they released this video ad, drags the president's own daughters into the gun debate. the president said today, he cannot fight this one alone. >> if parents and teachers, police officers and pastors, if hunters and sportsmen, if responsible gun owners, if americans of every background stand up and say enough, we suffered too much pain, and care too much about our children to allow this to continue, then change will -- change will come. >> and you hear that, i can hear a lot of you asking, what about the constitution? what about the second amendment? that's what a lot of people i know are asking. the president had an answer for

that. >> as americans we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights that no man or government can take away from us. but we have also long recognized as our founders recognized that with rights come responsibilities. along with our freedom to live our lives as we will comes an obligation to allow others to do the same. >> with me now from washington, chief national correspondent john king. and, john, let me start with something i mentioned a moment ago, 23 executive orders, this idea itself, unilateral actions by the president, i know stirring all kinds of concern among a lot of the gun owners out there. tell me what unilateral steps are we talking about here. >> reporter: well, essentially what he asked brooke, additional things, one of the first things he asked for any agency that has any jurisdiction here, the justice department already is involved in some background checks. other law enforcement agencies are involved in some existing gun control or gun safety measures.

what the president is saying scrub them, and see how you can better enforce them, discipline enforce them, better share information, make better use of technology, take every power you currently have and put it on steroids, if you will, and try to use it more aggressively. some of it is to ask for more research, and sharing of research data to show the root causes of gun violence and look at federal and other government mental health programs to see what you can do in that regard. the executive actions will cause some alarm among people who are critical of the president. but the bigger fight will be over the legislative proposals you mentioned. and on that one, you heard the president say he used all the weight of his office. this is going to be a fascinating test. the president in the second term has a limited window to get things done. this president wants to get a lot of big things done. how much political capital is he willing to invest here? >> he said he will use whatever weight this office holds to make them a reality. and we have been talking about this, john. we have all been talking about gun violence, since sandy hook, the president then making it clear he would take action. you mentioned the f word, fight. what will we be seeing?

>> reporter: the interesting thing is that initially he seems to be getting the democrats that he would have some issues with to at least have an open mind. harry reid is the democratic majority leader of the senate. the nra stayed out of his senate race, they probably could have defeated him. they stayed out. he's not a big supporter of gun control, but he did issue a statement today saying that the president's proposals were thoughtful and that everything should be considered. he didn't endorse them. he didn't endorse new gun control. but he could have blocked them. the president at least has the democrats saying we'll give you a fair shake here, mr. president. he's going to have a hard time getting some democratic votes, however. then comes the republican controlled house and, brooke, look at the statements out from the republicans in the house, conservative republicans in the senate, the president doesn't have the votes. is he going to say i tried and then walkway or is he going to travel the country? you heard him in that remark, he said he needs help. he wants parents, members of congress come home, he wants people to call them, write them letters. will he sustain that for two months, three months, four months and more if need be when he wants to do big things on

debt and deficit, big things on medicare, comprehensive immigration reform, and will be in a fight with republicans over that? this is going to be a test of how long the president is prepared to wage what -- to get hard stuff done to get an assault weapons ban, to get the magazine clips, universal background check is easier, but the president has to dig in and fight and it will be fascinating to watch. >> this is a statement we have gotten from the nra, national rifle association, part of the statement. we look forward to working with congress on a bipartisan basis to find real solutions to protecting america's most valuable asset, our children. attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation, only honest, law abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy. to the inevitability of more tragedy, john king, to the latter part of that statement, congress could enact everything that the president is asking for and still i was wondering, there

is really no guarantee that we would not see another sandy hook. >> reporter: there isn't. imagine if all these things the president wants were in place. there is still no guarantee we would not have had a sandy hook because of the access to guns, you can steal people's guns, take other people's guns, a family member's guns, mental health issues involved and the president was candid in saying that. his point, if we can save one life by doing these things, which he calls common sense, which the nra calls an affront, we should do that. we'll get a test here. is this focused temporary, magnified because of the tragedy of sandy hook and aurora, perhaps, or will it last? will it last? is there a change in our politics? if you look around the country now, since 2000, democrats have been very timid on guns, including president obama, as you noted. they thought the al gore defeat in tennessee, in west virginia, in other places had at least something to do with his efforts to back that assault weapons ban and they have been very timid. now if you look, joe biden, thinking about 2016, governor o'malley of maryland, thinking about 2016, governor cuomo of new york thinking about 2016.

governor hickenlooper thinking about 2016, you have democrats saying let's take this on, let's take the lead that would have been viewed as risky, perhaps suicidal a few years go. let's see how it plays out. >> will it remain? is it fleeting? we shall see, john king. thank you very much. gun rights advocates tell me they see gun registration as a slippery slope toward banning, even confiscating guns. but there are areas where they agree with president obama. we're going to play something from this gun owner who spoke that may be universal background checks, maybe that's the most palletable idea we heard from the president. i want to take you to las vegas. because miguel marquez is there. he is at the biggest gun range in nevada. huge, miguel, huge announcement today from the president. what reaction are you getting from gun advocates there? >> reporter: it is a huge gun range, a huge reaction here across nevada. there is the giant shot show happening in the state as well. so the state is packed with everybody in the trade right

now, everybody focused on what the president is saying. i'm joined by mike heck, the general manager here at the range 702. you heard what the president said today. and your reaction is what? >> well, first, i found it a bit vague. waiting for what the 23 executive orders actually say. much of it, you could argue, is common sense. who would be against background checks? that's stuff we already do. really won't change business in that aspect for us. the assault weapons, high capacity magazines, we have to see what it says in black and white. >> reporter: and see where it goes legislatively. that has to be done by legislation. in the retail end, in the immediate future, you probably won't see a big change. i want to walk us through a few of the things we're seeing here. these are the sort of magazines, the high capacity magazines, these are 30 round clips. this is for an ak -- >> ak-47, right, 30-round magazines. >> reporter: and these are 30-round magazines.

these are what they're fighting over. the president saying anything over ten, these would not be legal anymore if it becomes law. >> that's true. >> reporter: how would that affect your business overall if these things went away? >> well, normally what happens is anything that was already produced is okay. that's the way we see these bans function before. of course state like new york decided, even if you already have it, need to get rid of it. the stuff that we have we would be able to sell from a business perspective. the prices go through the roof to almost outrageous. >> reporter: they're already going through the roof. you can't keep this stuff in the house, basically. you had to limit the number that people can buy. >> we had to limit it to three cases per customer, a thousand rounds in a case. we used to sell this at about $399 a case. it is currently at $649. >> reporter: so doubled in price. and these, these -- it is impressive. this is an actual m-16 made by a local manufacturer called m-2. the only thing -- this would be legal, except for the fact that

it can go fully automatic, if i can flip this over here, this little switch, if i'm correct, this means it is on safe, correct? i can't pull the trigger. that means that it is on some automatic mode, that every time i pull that trigger, a round is fired off. this is what makes it illegal to the public, is that if i were to pull the trigger here and it was loaded, it would fire off rounds until i stopped pulling that trigger and that's automatic. this would be -- >> much more heavily regulated, that's not an over the counter sale. >> this is not an over the counter sale. everything about this particular gun would be legal if it weren't automatic? >> correct. the semi-automatic configuration would be illegal to sell. >> reporter: that's the retail side of things for you here, brooke. but certainly they're paying very close attention to everything in washington and how it will affect them. back to you for now. >> thank you. can children grow out of autism? a new study may give hope to

millions of families. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. as tourists flock to d.c., many are paying a high price for luxury at the inauguration. plus, her husband died in aurora's movie theater shooting. now she's suing the psychiatrist who treated james holmes. we're on the case. and -- >> it is just devastating. i think the whole town is probably just mortified about it. >> a dad and his two young sons go hiking. but never come home. you'll hear what happened in their last 24 hours. oh!

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can kids recover from autism? there is a new study that suggests that some children who are diagnosed as having autism lost their symptoms as they grew older. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen here to talk to me about this study. first, just explain the study. >> it is fascinating because it turns conventional wisdom on its head. doctors thought you can't outgrow autism once you're diagnosed, that's it. you have it. these researchers found 34 kids who were diagnosed with autism by good doctors who know what they're doing as very young kids before the age of 5, and then they -- years later when they looked at them, they didn't have any signs of autism. they were examined and the signs were gone. >> so how is this even possible? >> a couple of things going on. they found in some ways this group of kid had somewhat milder autism to begin with, that's one thing. it could also have something to do with the early intervention that these kids got, some of the training and the schooling and

what have you, the therapy these kids got. and it also might have something to do with the children's individual brains. maybe there was something about their brains. and researchers have told me, you know, it is probably in the going to be -- it is not going to be every kid that does this. probably going to be a relatively small number, a small percentage, but still significant it exists at all. >> it is huge. and i can't help but think as we're talking about the parents of children who have autism, right? you're probably thinking this is wonderful news, finally, there is hope for my son or daughter. is this real hope? >> i would say excitement. that's what one researcher said. she said this is exciting. and so the bottom line advice for parents with -- of children who have autism is get your kid the best intervention you can get them. get them the best treatment that you can get them. maybe they'll outgrow it, or recover so to speak, maybe they won't. but either way you got to do the same thing, get them the best treatment you can get them. >> got it, exciting. not hope, exciting. elizabeth cohen, thank you. >> thanks.

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of people. sunny hostin is on the case with me today. sunny what does this woman, chantal blanc, what does she content the doctor should have done about holmes? >> it is pretty bare bones but contains these allegations. she says once james holmes explained to dr. fenton that he fantasized about killing a lot of people, approximately six weeks before the colorado massacre, that she should have notified law enforcement, brooke. what is interesting is that she did notify folks on her campus team about this, and law enforcement was notified, but this widow is saying, no, she should have done more. james holmes was a danger to others and it was in the public interest for her to do something about it. bottom line is, this woman is claiming dr. fenton just didn't do enough to prevent this tragedy. >> now, we also know that the university of colorado, denver,

also named in a lawsuit. cnn tried to unsuccessfully reach dr. fenton's attorney. let me put that out there. let me read this for you. the university gave us this statement saying, quote, it has nothing but sympathy for the victims, goes on, but in our initial review of the case, the university believes this lawsuit is not well founded legally or factually. so does the widow have a solid case? >> it is not a clear -- there is no clear cut answer to that, brooke. but i've got to tell you, everyone is talking about doctor/patient confidentiality and she couldn't have informed law enforcement. that's not necessarily true. there are exceptions to that confidentiality and one of the exceptions is that you have to be able to protect a patient from himself or from harming others. now, i think this would be a very different situation if holmes had explained to the doctor he planned this particular shooting, right? so she would have had specifics, but he did say that he fantasized about killing a lot of people.

so it is not a close call. it is a pretty close call, i think, as to whether or not she should have done more. so i don't think we can go so far as to say that this is a frivolous lawsuit. i think it is far from that, actually. >> we'll see where that case goes. other case, patricia wocornwell best-selling author, she has sold, you know, millions, 10 million bucks here. angelina jolie is set to play this character in an upcoming movie based upon this series. cornwell is in court. she's suing the firm that handles her money, and this trial, sunny hostin, sounds more like an episode of, you know, robin leech's lifestyles of the rich and famous here. what is her beef with her advisers? >> it does sound like that, right? i've been preparing for this segment, i've been shocked at the numbers that are being thrown out. she is saying they mismanaged, mismanaged her money.

she's saying she had a 4 1/2 year relationship and she makes about eight figures a year from this book. from her books. but she just learned in 2009 that her net worth was only $13 million, which is about what she makes in a year. and so she says they mismanaged her money, they stole money from her, they moved money into these risky investments without telling her, they even borrowed money she claims to purchase a helicopter without her knowledge. you know what they say? >> what do they say? >> they say, no, you were trying to live large, patricia cornwell and let me show you what they're saying. they're saying she spent $40,000 a month on apartment in new york city, $5 million for private jet service, and $11 million to buy properties in connecticut. so they're saying they did nothing wrong that this is really just a matter of patricia cornwell sort of having impulsive buying habits and living large. so we'll see what happens in court, but it is really quite eye opening.

>> what would a $40,000 a month -- i don't even know. that's what they say. >> i would love to see that. >> sunny hostin, thank you very much, on the case with me here. to breaking news. breaking news, developments in the terror attack we have been covering for you, this show, involving the american hostages. we are now learning that the militant group responsible has made its demands. we're going to take you back to the pentagon for that next. [ dad ] find it? ya. alright, another one just like that. right in the old bucket. good toss! see that's much better! that was good. you had your shoulder pointed, you kept your eyes on your target.

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we knew that in total there were about 40 hostages, as many as 7 americans. tell me what more you're learning as far as demands from this group. >> reporter: yeah, we're still trying to piece together specific demands, but we know that some of the algerian hostages have now been reportedly released, brooke. and, again, that may lead down the line to getting a better idea of exactly what these hostage takers want. we do know that the al qaeda affiliate that has been operating in that area is one of the most well funded al qaeda groups out there around the world. they have literally made tens of millions of dollars off smuggling and kidnapping, specifically kidnapping algerian business men and politicians, and some foreigners, and then collecting ransoms off of that to become a very well funded outfit. >> so you're saying that the algerian hostages within this group have been freed, yet there are potentially as many as seven americans still sitting there,

against their will, and what about -- who were you saying was taking the lead, the algerian government on this? >> reporter: for the most part on the ground, because they have the best sense of what is going on the ground. they have the first security responders who would be able to go to the bp facility and get an idea of what is going on there. but from the u.s. side, the state department and the fbi, would be taking the lead in consultations with the u.s. military's africa command. the key thing with africa command is for a long time they didn't have what is called a commanders in extremist force. it is a lethal, small unit, specifically trained for counterterrorism missions. and that was a big criticism post benghazi, that they didn't have a command, a unit close by who might have been able to respond quickly. well, post benghazi, that unit has been established and we're told that in all likelihood they would be available. first off, though, you've got to get a clear situation of what is

going on the ground, and i don't think u.s. military officials at this point have that clear view of exactly what the picture is there at the bp facility. >> okay. as you point out, this is one of the most affluent al qaeda affiliates in the whole world and this north african nation, seven americans held hostage. as soon as you get more information, chris lawrence, we'll come back to you. chris, thank you. bottom of the hour, i'm brooke baldwin. a fast moving winter snowstorm is moving to the northeast. take a look at this picture here of the radar. freezing rain, sleet, snow, all expected to sweep through new england by the end of the day. weather conditions are treacherous, like this here. unfortunately. one family suffered a tremendous loss because of it. we have learned a father took his two boys on a hiking trip in missouri saturday during what seemed to be a great day to be outside. but they did not ever return to their lodge.

our affiliate ktvi has more on this severe weather that caused a tragedy. >> reporter: if you graduate high school here, you never truly move away. waterloo is ready to wrap its arms around sara, class of '95. she became sara decker moving around the world, three boys, two girls, they had just moved back to a house in millstat after david got a civilian department of defense job at scott air force base. >> i just met the kids at dairy queen like a month ago, two months ago after a chorus concert. just, i don't know, just very devastating. >> reporter: the family was camping along the ozark trail in reynolds county over the weekend. the sheriff says 36-year-old david and sons dominick, 10, and grant, 8, went for a hike near the lodge saturday morning. a searcher found them lifeless nearly 24 hours later. the sheriff says the weather turned on them, heavy rain and a sudden temperature drop of about

40 degrees. they just weren't prepared. >> i'm sure yesterday was around 60 degrees when they set out. they were seen around 2:00 at suttons bluff, but by that time, the heavy rains had set in, they were all avid hikers. just we think because of the storm moving in as quick as it did and the weather, the temperatures, that it was actually exposure. >> it is just devastating. i think the whole town is probably just mortified about it. it is horrible. >> andy baker with that. now we go it ali velshi with big news here today. hey, ali. >> have you seen one of these? i'm going to talk to you about this and the two guys behind me when i come back. it is a big week for cell phones. we'll be right back.

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don't pretend like you don't know when i'm holding up to my ear. one of the first cell phones ever around, even if you hadn't used one, you've seen it in the movie. remember gordon gecko in "wall street." listen. >> i don't care where or how you get it. >> he made that idea of doing business from your cell phone famous back then. by the way, that was "wall street," the first movie. i liked this scene from "wall street," money never sleeps, the sequel. >> this is a financial crisis and anyone who doesn't admit

that is just kidding themselves. >> but i digress. let's talk about how ubiquitous cell phones became. it wasn't this, it was this, the blackberry, ten in, it is so what so many of us learn to use a smartphone on. this really led the market. but i'll be -- let me show you about apple. this is where the market is right now. many of you have been asking me whether apple's stock is a great buy. let's go back to 2007 and take a look at trat jehe trajectory th stock has been on, all the way up to the middle of 2012 and then problems around here and started to drop. people start eed asking me. i spoke to a technical analyst and said where should it go if it is in the mid500s. here is what she told me. >> the initial resistance as we call it is around $600. that's where apple has felt selling pressure pretty recently. it is about 10% above current

levels. and beyond that, if we see a breakout above that level, i think we could look at $700, again, which is where we peaked in september. >> let me remind you what she was saying. in the mid-500s. if it gets beyond 600, it could go to 700. it ended up going back lower, 480-ish. does that make apple a screaming buy or is there really a problem? the problem is that there are rumors that apple is buying fewer components for its iphones. why would they be doing that? because they're likely thinking that they're going to sell fewer of these iphones. let's talk a little bit about this guy. everybody who knows -- everybody knows who he is. he started the revolution. these guys may have had the first cell phone. this might have been the first smartphone. but when steve jobs said the following, he started the real smartphone revolution. listen. >> this is one device. and we are calling it iphone.

>> we're calling it iphone. back then, people used blackberries, then they started switching over to iphones. i bet you don't know who these two guys are. you would have if you were me, because i've come from canada. these are two canadians, these are the guys from canada who started research in motion, the company that makes the blackberry. what they didn't do, they did a lot of things right, but when they first saw this iphone they looked at it and said, nah, i don't think it will be that big a deal. that was not the right thing for them to do. let's talk about iphone versus blackberry sales. the iphone came out in 2007. the blue line is blackberry sales. the red line is iphone sales. see they sort of trended together for a while and then in 2010, apple started doing interesting things and started doing that with its sales. look what happened to blackberry. that's where we are today. we have research in motion, a company that is really, really struggling in the market. in 2007 when the iphone came out, blackberry was still doing

well. because companies like to use the blackberry. going up way into 2008 and then look at that, look at that dropoff, and this company has really, really struggled. you can see right here, actually, little bit of excitement. the consumer electronics show in las vegas, blackberry unveiled its blackberry 10. it is coming out on january 30th. i spoke to a guy who said that this stock could go up 400%, could go from about $15 up to about $60. so the issue here is that blackberry lives to fight another day. if this blackberry 10 is all it is promised to be, this company could be back in the game. the rule here is if blackberry you do get another chance, don't ruin it and the thing for apple to think about is don't ignore blackberry. you've been able to write them off for years. now they may be back in the game. by the way, for all those -- all of you who don't use a blackberry or iphone, you're using some kind of an android, or windows-based device, those are still very popular. but right now, we're looking to

see what happens with apple stock, blackberry stock, iphones, and black berries. that's it for me. i'm ali velshi. same time tomorrow. i'm out. i have low testosterone. there, i said it. how did i know? well, i didn't really. see, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive... but when i started losing energy and became moody... that's when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. we discussed all the symptoms... then he gave me some blood tests. showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number -- not just me. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t

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talk to your doctor about all your symptoms. get the blood tests. change your number. turn it up. androgel 1.62%. gun owners now know for certain how the pro gun control wave hitting the nation may impact them. the president just today announcing his proposals to curb

gun violence today in the wake of the 27 killed in newtown, connecticut, last month. here's what the president is asking congress to do. limit gun magazines to ten rounds, ban quote/unquote, military-style assault weapons, establish universal background checks so buyers at gun shows and private sales, they'll have to be screened in addition to having to go in a store, and dedicate more money to helping treat mental illness and enhance school security. look at the numbers here, this poll we're getting, this new cnn/"time"/orc poll, majority of americans appear to back the move, 55% of those asked were in favor of stricter gun control laws. and joining me now here in studio is jerry henry, the executive director of georgiakerry.org. welcome. >> thank you. >> did you listen to the president today? >> i listened to part of it. >> give me your number one biggest beef with what he laid

out? >> he did absolutely nothing to address the criminal element, all the things he pointed out will only affect law abiding citizens who already abide by the law. there is nothing in there that is going to give a criminal any more knowledge that will make him read the law, understand what is in it and follow it. >> universal background checks, that wouldn't help eradicate some criminality aspect to future buyers. >> there have been studies over and over of criminals in jail, you ask them where they get their guns, they don't go to gun shows to get their guns, they get them off the street from the underworld. >> the president, and, look, anyone can acknowledge what happened in newtown, what happened in newtown may not have been prevented had all this been enacted by congress more than a month ago. we can't say that for sure. what it seems like a lot of people are saying is look, at least if you can -- sounds like my parents, back in the day, you shouldn't stay out later than midnight. if something happens after midnight, things just get worse for a lot of youngsters out there. i think, okay, well, right now

if you were to have a lot of people say if you were to have laws enacted, universal background checks, ban on military assault weapons, it would lessen the probability of an element of criminality, an element of young people being killed. >> really. that would -- >> one side of the argument, that's all i'm saying. >> that would have stopped a young man from killing his mother, stealing three of her guns, stealing her car and driving down the road to a school and shooting somebody? i fail to see how that would have stopped any of that. >> i take your point, that's how i preface the whole thing, beyond newtown, other examples of people using, for example, an ar-15rks l ar-15, you own an ar-15. >> yes, i do. >> what do you use it for? >> target practice, shoot varmints, i live out toward the edge of town and i can shoot on my property. and it is a very small caliber gun compared to hunting gun. so it is not going to do anywhere near the damage that people tell you it will do. >> we have a clip just exactly showing what an ar-15 is capable.

let's roll that. why do you need that to shoot varmints? >> i didn't count the number of rounds, but if you're shooting varmints, what does it matter if you're defending yourself, then you may need more rounds than that. the lady in snellville the other day that shot the guy six times and hit him five, if there had been one more guy or two more guys standing there, her six rounds would have not been enough to protect herself. i've never known anybody to be in a gunfight that said, gee, i had way too many bullets. >> what would you propose? i think everyone is on the same side in terms of not wanting more innocent lives lost. >> right. >> what would you propose that the nation do to help lessen the probability of that happening next? >> well, we need to, number one, we have over 20,000 gun laws on the books. we need to enforce those gun laws we don't need to put people in prison and make it a revolving door for them to come

back out. and that's what we do. and then when we find somebody that is mentally insane or mentally unbalanced mentally insane or imbalanced, we haul them off to the hospital and then they are back on the street. we need to punish people for the crimes that they do. you can cannot legislate evil out of the minds of men. you just can't do it. >> are you loyal to the nra? >> i am a member of the nra, have been since 1964. my loyalty, i do follow what the nra does nationally. >> they have a tremendous influence. do you agree with that? >> i agree with that. >> you do? >> well, there are a few cases that we prefer not to waffle on but, yes, for the most part they do have a tremendous influence. >> jerry, we just wanted your perspective. thank you, be sir. >> thank you. and we'll be right back.

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single ladies and gents, listen up, the world's most eligible bachelors taking the top five spot. 31, the second youngest head presidential speechwriter, is he jon favreau and in third place, ralph lauren.

a movie producer and former actor, it is andrew lauren and, number two, currently six on the official world golf ranking, if that doesn't hurt, he's pretty easy on the eyes. he's australian adam scott. the number one bachelor is, no surprise, second in line for the royal throne, his brother prince william married kate middleton. i'm going to cover the inauguration with the best and brightest here at cnn. i want to show you this luxury package. i'm not getting this. maybe you are. it includes his and her rolex watches, a $5,000 shopping spree at sachs and that's just the beginning. [ dad ] find it?

ya. alright, another one just like that. right in the old bucket. good toss! see that's much better! that was good. you had your shoulder pointed, you kept your eyes on your target. let's do it again -- watch me. just like that one... [ male announcer ] the durability of the volkswagen passat. pass down something he will be grateful for. good arm. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ back to you.

luxury fit for a president can be yours if you're willing to pay, of course, with the presidential inauguration days away, hundreds of thousands are expected to descend upon the nation's capital this weekend. washington area hotels are offering up some pretty posh lod lodging packages for high rolling guests. shannon, i presume you're being put autopsy the presidential suite at the fair month. >> i was going to ask you the same thing.

>> no. >> maybe we'll be out at motel 8 like a lot of other people. these are pretty luxurious packages. let's run through a few of them that i checked into today that are still available. let's start with the ritz carlton georgetown. for $201,300 you can have four nights at this property t provides two floors, five bedrooms, a 24-hour butler service, and a $20,000 shopping spree at bloomingdale's just in case you don't have your tux or dress yet. another package that i've looked into it, the w washington, d.c. the rooftop is killer. a five-room suite, $50,000 for four nights. a private nighttime limo tour